Lonely Hearts
by After Six
Summary: After the world is saved, Nefurin (Nephrite) tries to continue his relationship with Ami. Continues from the last scenes of the live action.


**Lonely Hearts**

Ami stared at the huge horn-like object, not quite knowing what to think. It was easily twice as big as her arm, and it looked like some kind of prize kill for ancient hunting clans or something. Even though she had a big apartment, she had no idea where she was supposed to put this… thing.

"Nefurin-chan," she said slowly, her eyes gradually shifting from the object in her hands to the man standing before her with hopeful puppy dog eyes, clearly expecting a much more excited reaction out of his gift. "…what am I supposed to do with this?"

His face fell, and Ami felt like she'd just kicked a puppy.

"I… I thought it looked nice. Would make a great gift. I mean…" he scratched his head, at a loss for words. "It's majestic and cool and… I really liked it."

"Nefurin-chan, you're an odd guy," Motoki offered his unsolicited opinion, peeking from behind Nephrite's shoulder.

It took every ounce of Nephrite's willpower not to punch him in the face.

"You might like that, but it's not fitting as a gift for a girl, especially one as gentle as Ami-chan," Motoki continued with the air of someone who had a lot of knowledge about girls.

Ami set the horn awkwardly on the counter of Crown. "If you like it so much, Nefurin-chan, I think you should keep it," she said diplomatically. "But I really appreciate the gesture; that you thought of giving me something at all. I mean, they were just burnt cookies. And you said they were horrible."

"But I really liked those cookies!" Nephrite protested vehemently.

Ami laughed. "Then I will make more for you. But seriously, don't worry about the gift. As they say, it's the thought that counts."

She waved goodbye to the two guys, and with that, she left the karaoke.

Nephrite stared dejectedly at the rejected gift.

* * *

Ami was walking home from Crown a few days later when she got the feeling someone was following her.

She turned around and found Nefurin loitering a couple steps behind her, pretending to be looking at some street stalls and not at all spying on her. She sighed and, after a moment of deliberation, approached him. He looked alarmed when she came toward him, but Ami put on her kindest smile.

"Nefurin-chan, are you following me?" she asked, not accusingly.

He stammered for a bit, then finally just nodded in a very determined way.

Ami laughed. He was certainly an odd guy, but she didn't know why, she just never felt threatened by him. Despite his anger outbursts, he never struck her as a violent, dangerous, or evil person. He was just misunderstood, surely. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

He looked at her as if he couldn't believe how nice she was being. "I… wanted to know what you like."

"Huh?" Ami tilted her head, confused.

"Motoki said I need to find a gift that you like. So I'm trying to figure it out by… following you."

Ami blinked in surprise. After the meaning of his simple words sunk in, she found that she could not describe the feeling that was building in her heart at that moment. She had never had someone who was so… determined to please her. To put this much attention on her. Sure, Usagi and the others were her friends, and they loved her, too… but this was different. She felt that to Nefurin, she was… special.

Ami had never felt special. On the contrary, she'd always felt invisible.

"You could just ask me, you know," she said with a smile. "And I already told you don't worry about the gift."

"I want to!" Nefurin blurted out in his typical aggressive way, but he quickly backed down when he realized what he'd done. "I mean… I wanted to. Ami-san, you have to tell me what you like!"

Ami was struck by how sincere he was being.

"I like… books," she finally said. Still half shocked, she just blurted out the truth without thinking.

But Nefurin latched onto this information like a dog with a bone. "Books?" he asked, looking very intrigued. "What kind of books?"

"Uh… all kinds, really," Ami replied, not quite sure how to deal with his enthusiasm.

"Let's go buy some books," he said decisively, and before she knew it, he'd dragged her to the nearest bookstore.

She could not possibly stop the force of nature that he was.

In the bookstore, Nefurin stared at all the books on display intently, as if he could figure out which one she would like best if he just stared long enough. Ami had no idea what she was supposed to do.

"How about this?" he picked one up after a long moment of silence.

Ami looked at the title and her eyes widened. It was a romance novel.

It was her guilty pleasure.

Her face reddened as she debated saying no, not _those_ kind of books, but when she looked up at Nefurin's serious face, she realized she could not lie to him.

And somehow, she knew that he would not judge her or laugh at her.

"Y-yes," she said with a small voice. "I would like that very much."

Without another word, Nefurin marched to the cashier, and in another minute he'd handed the book to her.

"Thank you," Ami said, feeling dazed. She felt like she was still trying to catch up with what was happening.

She looked up at him and his intense gaze, at the pleased expression hiding behind his hard mask. He was so pleased with himself after having finally picked the perfect gift for her that Ami couldn't help but feel touched.

She actually felt like she might cry.

"You're a really unusual man, Nefurin-chan," she said with a smile. "But you're also a really good man."

He looked surprised, and the smallest twitch of a smile played at the corner of his lips.

Ami had never seen him smile before.

And her heart felt warm at the sight of it.

* * *

Somehow, Nefurin had started the habit of walking her home from Crown at the end of the day. Ami didn't quite know how it happened. Suddenly he was just there, walking alongside her, and it felt like the most natural and comfortable thing in the world.

Sometimes they didn't talk at all, and it still wouldn't feel awkward. She'd feel like she had a friend, which made her feel better, but without all the expectations to converse and fill the silence with words.

He was, perhaps, her best kind of friend.

"Nefurin-chan," she said one day as they stopped for ice cream. It was a whim; she saw the truck and asked if he'd like some, and he seemed eager to try it as if he'd never had ice cream before in his life. Now he was eating it with the wonder of a five year old tasting it for the first time.

"Mmpmh?" was his only response, and he continued attacking the cone with vigor.

"Why do you keep walking me home?" she asked; a question she had been wanting to ask for a while, but only now found the bravery to do so.

He stopped mid-lick and looked at her with that intense gaze of his. "You… don't like it?"

"No, no," Ami said quickly, afraid she might hurt his feelings again. "I like it. I just wonder, you know? Don't you have other things to do?"

"I like walking with you," he said matter-of-factly in the way that only he could, making it sound exactly the way it meant, nothing more, nothing less.

"I don't mean to offend you but… you seem so… aimless sometimes. We have no idea where you came from, and you seem to have nowhere to go either. Will you tell me more about you?"

He hesitated, seeming conflicted.

"You don't have to, if you don't want to. If it's too difficult to talk about," Ami added hurriedly. "I just figured… if we're friends… if you're in trouble, I want to try to help you."

"I'm not in trouble," he said finally, in that same honest way. "My past was trouble." He seemed like he was still trying to make sense of it. "I think I got a second chance. But now I don't know what to do."

Ami nodded. "I can understand that. So you're trying to make a new life, a better one?"

He nodded, going back to licking his ice cream.

"Well, that's good to hear," Ami smiled. "I think Motoki-kun's really nice, helping you out like this. Now you've got a job and a place to stay."

He nodded again.

"I can help you figure out what to do. I mean, if you want to do something other than working at Crown."

"Maybe later. Right now I'm okay with working there."

"Really? But you keep throwing things and making more mess rather than cleaning them up," Ami noted with a giggle.

He reddened. "I don't do that anymore. I was just… angry with my situation. But not anymore. Besides, I still need to pay back Motoki. I can't leave him so soon."

Ami was touched. Behind that tough exterior, he really had a good heart. Just like she suspected.

He finished his ice cream and dusted his hands. "Besides, if I leave, I can't walk you home anymore. I like to walk with you because you seem lonely."

Ami turned to him in surprise. "I do?"

He nodded. "And I don't like to see you lonely."

Something stirred in her memory when she heard those words, something she couldn't quite reach. A strange warmth filled her heart. "Why does that sound familiar…?" she wondered in a whisper.

"Are you lonely, Ami-san?"

Ami looked up at him, thinking about her answer. She wanted to be as honest as possible.

"I think… a little bit. I mean, I have my friends, and they're great, but when it's time to say goodbye… I have to come back to an empty home. My mother is very busy. So I guess… I get lonely when I have to go home."

Nefurin nodded. "Then that is why I walk you home. So you feel less lonely."

Everything was so simple with him, so straightforward. So honest. Ami didn't realize she'd teared up until a single drop of water fell onto her cheek.

"Ami-san? Why are you crying? Did I make you cry?" Nefurin asked in a panic.

"No, no!" Ami replied with a laugh. "I mean, yes, but… in a good way." She smiled and wiped the single tear. "You made me cry in a good way."

"There's a good way to cry?"

She laughed again and impulsively took his hand as she stood up, pulling him to his feet so they could continue on. "Yes, Nefurin-chan," she said sincerely, "Yes, there is."

* * *

Nephrite still didn't quite understand the whole crying thing, but if Ami-san said it was good, then he was going to believe her.

And if she was lonely, then he would walk her home every day, any time she needed him to.

Because here was a girl who, even when she embraced her darkest self, could still find compassion in her heart for someone else.

She was special.

And even though she might not know who he really was, or, when she eventually did, would ever remember everything that transpired when Kunzite corrupted her, Nephrite would. He would remember that single gesture of kindness that she once gave him, and he would keep it in his heart forever.

That was the day he learned what kindness was.

And for as long as he lived, he swore that Ami Mizuno would never be lonely.


End file.
